SMITHFIELD TOWNSHIP -- Many kitchens in our area are buzzing with activity as people are starting to prep for Thanksgiving. That includes resorts in the Poconos.
The kitchen at one resort is getting ready to host one of its largest crowds in years.
Prep work of the Thanksgiving Day turkey is something very familiar to many.
The executive chef at Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort near Delaware Water Gap has been busy in the resort kitchen for hours mixing together ingredients for the bird and then lathering up the 24-pounders with all the spicy formula. The chef is joined by a team of assistants busy helping with the prep work.
"They're preparing for mushroom salad, they're preparing for pasta dishes, they're cutting vegetables, getting ready for the action tomorrow morning. They'll start the day a little early, around 5, 5:30," said executive chef Gaurav Navin.
It's a flurry of chopping, stirring, and slicing in the kitchen to feed an expected 550 people.
All the action caught the attention of the Johnson family from Quakertown who is spending thanksgiving at Shawnee.
"I saw them setting up for it when we came in," said Kelcy Johnson. "It looks really big."
The Johnson family is staying in a cottage that has a kitchen. They plan to prepare their own Thanksgiving dinner.
In the resort kitchen the activity is only heating up.
Most people are not hosting more than 500 people for Thanksgiving, but you do have mouths to feed. So the chef has a few suggestions just to make sure the time in your kitchen goes smoothly.
"If I was at home cooking, I would take a pen and paper and write things down. This is what I would do at this time, this is what I would do at that time,” Navin said.
And he says make sure you have fun while cooking up a happy Thanksgiving.